Fitting tribute to Titanic heroes

Engineers memorial to be unveiled today after restoration by television company

By
Daily Echo Reporter

Fitting tribute to Titanic heroes

A NEWLY-restored memorial marking the bravery of the engineers who died when ill-fated Southampton liner Titanic sank 98 years ago is being unveiled tomorrow in East Park at 2pm.

Southampton City Council and TV production company Twenty Twenty Television have returned the bronze memorial to its former glory, as it would have appeared in 1914.

Titanic struck an iceberg in the freezing Atlantic waters off Newfoundland on April 14 1912 with a huge loss of life, including the engineers who remained loyally at their posts deep inside the liner despite knowing they faced certain death.

When the Titanic Engineers Memorial was originally unveiled by Sir Archibald Denny, president of the Institute of the Marine Engineers, the event was attended by an estimated 100,000 Southampton residents.

Funded by donations from their colleagues around the world, the monument marked the heroism of the Titanic’s engineers.

But over the years, time, weather and pollution took their toll on the memorial, dulling the bronze panels and the figure of the angel standing on the bow of a ship.

The memorial, officially a Grade II listed building, was designed and built by Whitehead and Son of the Imperial Works, Kennington Oval in London.

Councillor John Hannides, Southampton City Council’s Cabinet member for leisure, culture and heritage said: “When the ship sank, 549 people from Southampton tragically lost their lives and hundreds of families in the city were directly affected.

“The impact was felt around the world, but nowhere more so than in Southampton. I think I speak for the majority in recognising the heroism and sacrifice of the ship’s engineers, who remained at their posts until the bitter end, keeping the lights working so that passengers had a chance of finding their way to the lifeboats.”

TV series The event will be filmed by Twenty Twenty Television as part of a new landmark series for Channel 4 called We Built Titanic.

The series explores the Edwardian industrial era that culminated in the building of the most famous ship in modern history, Titanic, which in her day was the largest man made moving object in the world.

The final episode focuses on Southampton, and investigates the impact Titanic had on the families of this city.

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